A Few More Trade Show No-No’s

September 26, 2013

by Ian

We spend a lot of time on this blog talking about best practices and tactics for getting the most out of your trade show experience. Whether you are exhibiting or just attending, going with that huge custom trade show display to announce your new product launch, or just keeping it simple with a basic display stand there are a lot of ways to do things right and get oodles of value out of your next trade show experience.

Of course, the converse of that fact is that there are also a lot of ways to do things wrong and totally shoot yourself in the foot the next time your company is exhibiting at a trade show. We’ve covered some of these ‘no-no’s before, but there are a few more that we want to spotlight here because it’s always in your best interest to avoid things that are going to cause you extra hassle, cost you extra money or just make you seem like a cliche.

So, without further ado, here are a few more trade show ‘no-no’s to avoid:

Falling prey to common trade show cliches like giving out candy or other items that have nothing to do with your brand or your products

There are a lot of good ways to promote your display stand at the trade show, but there are also some serious cliches that you should avoid. One of the worst is giving away items just to give away items when they aren’t your own products and don’t have anything to do with your company. Yes, this can attract attention, but it can also cheapen your brand and make it difficult to translate the added attention into leads and positive exposure.

Not spending as much time getting staffers prepared as you spend on your trade show display design and implementation

There is good reason to be fully invested in the design and style of your trade show display. That’s because trade shows are in many ways the most visible representation of your brand and business to others in the industry. But, don’t forget that your display stand will only be as powerful as your staffers are effective at putting a positive face to your company. People tend to remember the people just as much as the design and it behooves you to take advantage of this.

Making too much noise, literally.

Yes, we get it. You want people to take notice of your trade show display. But, using bright, flashing lights and loud pumping house music is more likely to drive people away than actually attract any of them to your trade show display. That is, unless you are exhibiting at the International Electro-House Expo (sorry, as far as we know no such thing exists).